1. Technical Field
This invention relates to telecommunications services for providing caller identification information to a called party and, more particularly, to a self-provisioning names database for such services.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Over the years caller services have increased due to the computerization of telecommunications services. For example, one such service that is now provided to telecommunications subscribers is caller identification. As a caller places a telecommunications call to a called party and enters address signaling data for signaling the called party, both the calling party's telephone number and the called party's telephone number are transmitted to the telecommunications switch, typically a Lucent Technologies #5ESS electronic switch, serving the called party. As the called party's line rings, the switch serving the called party also provides data to the subscriber loop or trunk to the subscriber's premises which can actuate a display to display the calling party's telephone number at the called party's premises.
Since the introduction of the caller identification service by telephone number, local operating telephone companies have also offered a related service for providing the name of the calling party. Subscribers to such a service are provided a display of both the telephone number and name of the calling party for an extra fee. The local operating telephone company will generate a query during a call of a remote billing database, for example, a database maintained by the operating telephone company serving the calling party, to perform a number to name translation and forward the name data to the calling party along with the telephone number for display. Others besides the operating telephone companies may maintain a similar database that may attempt to maintain a names list, for example, for all the telephones in an entire country or region thereof. Of course, any such entity may charge for access to such a regional or national database that it maintains.
A problem persists, however, in that in providing such name identification services, the local operating telephone companies must rely on other telephone companies or national database access providers to provide the name information. Also, the information may not be provided in time to be signaled via a subscriber's display before the subscriber must answer the phone. Finally, the costs of providing such a service may become high in relation to the perceived value to the customer. Consequently, there remains a need in the art to provide a caller identification by number and name service that is economical and efficient.